Henna
| domains = Knowledge, Writing, Travel, | favored weapon = Crook (Quarterstaff) }} History As a child in the forges Old Father, Gorm, Henna watched as the sparks from his hammer-blows illuminated the walls of their mountain home. She marveled at how the sparks from the forging of the sun and moons would burn for days upon the floor, clinging to life. He had instructed her to sit in a corner of the forge so that he could be sure that she was safe but would be far enough out of the way so that she would not be under-foot. As the sparks fell to the sandy floor of the forge, she saw that they were falling in unique patterns and shapes in which she saw the faces of animals, the branches of trees and the great beasts that were being breathed into life by the divine hosts. She began to draw in the sand, connecting the ever-burning sparks of light into these shapes only to weep as the sands would finally steal their light and her creation would fall cold. Bored and somewhat curious about what lie beyond the mountain where Gorm's forge was set, she gathered the sparks which burned brightest upon the forge floor and snuck off into the black of night. She would find somewhere else to paint with her sparks; somewhere they would not fade. Henna was gifted with an intellect as bright as the sparks she carried in the folds of her cloak. And she knew that other than the moons in the heavens and the sun in the sky, the cloak of night was empty. There was nothing there to snuff the light out from the forge-sparks. The brightest of the sparks she had ‘rescued’ from the Father’s forge – remnants of the forging of the sun, she hung in the night’s sky so that she could find her way back to their home. With a handful of stars, she painted the sky above her in shapes and marks that she had previously drawn in the sands of the forge’s floor. Each night she crept from their home and painted the skies with the rescued sparks, ever-curious to discover what her father had created in this world. On the ninth night of her sky-painting, she had wandered too far from home and her father, Gorm, discovered she was missing. The Smith was fearful that she had been taken by a some savage beast new to the world and hungry. Lighting a lantern from his forge, he fetched his hammer and stalked out into the mountains to seek his daughter. The Stone Queen, Henna’s mother, sent the elementals of her realm to seek her out while her father called into the night. At the peak of a great mountain, greater than the peek in which he and his daughter had made their home, he saw a bright-blue light which guessed to be the radiance of his lover, Amara the Stone Queen. Striding up the mountain in god-like steps, he reached its summit only to find his daughter arranging a huge sapphire into the night’s sky. The gem, made brighter with a gift of her sparks, hung atop a crook-like constellation of sparks like a crown. The Crook, as she called the painting, was a depiction of their family with the great blue gem to represent her mother, Amara and the soft yellow light to mimic the lantern carried by her father, Gorm, to the far left of the crook. Too pleased with his daughter’s creation to be truly upset with her, the Smith gave her the entire night’s sky to paint with her sparks and name each figure upon it. From that point on, the sky was painted with Henna’s handful of stars. Each mark was unique to her own imagination and told a story or displayed an image of what she saw. The arrangement and design of each constellation was given a name by her – Henna, the Name Giver. Followers Henna's followers are commonly referred to as Pilgrims. They have organized themselves into a series of small temple-libraries here and there on the road where others of their faith can seek shelter and share what they've learned on their journey. Pilgrim temples often will give gifts of Pilgrim's bread to those travelers who come to their doors. The bread is dense and hearty - able to sustain one for a day or longer. Henna's followers are students of the stars - studying their passing and constellations to understand the great workings of the gods above. According to myth, she set a single star in the night's sky to guide all of her followers on their travels; the Pilgrim's Star Imagery Category:Deity Category:Neutral God Category:Halfling God Category:Greater God Category:Lawful God